SJAA teams still tinkering

STOCKTON - The Lincoln High football team needs fixing. Head coach Brian Gray knows this.

Stephen Roberson

STOCKTON - The Lincoln High football team needs fixing. Head coach Brian Gray knows this.

The Trojans, who host Bear Creek at 7:15 p.m. today, enter the San Joaquin Athletic Association opener 2-3 on the heels of back-to-back losses to St. Mary's and Granite Bay the past two weeks.

Some perspective is necessary, however. Lincoln plays a brutal nonleague schedule, which included a win over Elk Grove-Pleasant Grove, a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I finalist a year ago that is far better than anyone the Trojans will see in the SJAA.

Bottom line: Lincoln is the clear favorite, Tracy (3-2) and Chavez (2-3) pose the biggest challenge, and Bear Creek (1-4), Franklin (0-5) and Lodi (0-5) have struggled but could be dangerous.

The Trojans returned their two top skill players from last year's team that played in the Division I semifinals, running back Justin Davis and quarterback Zack Greenlee. But they lost their entire offensive line, and that's been a problem.

While Davis has put up impressive numbers in some games - he ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 51-18 loss to St. Mary's two weeks ago - he was held to minus-4 yards on 14 carries in last week's 42-14 loss at Granite Bay.

Regardless of Davis' stats, the offensive line's struggles have made it difficult for the Trojans to sustain drives, and that's made it difficult to win games.

"We're going through some adversity, but the kids have remained upbeat," Gray said. "We're all on the same page regarding why we put together such a tough schedule and what it reveals about you. We have answers; we don't have questions."

The Bulldogs, who travel to Franklin at 7:15 p.m. today, are the only SJAA team with a winning record coming into league play.

Third-year coach Matt Shrout has quietly done one of the better jobs in the area after starting last season 0-7. Tracy broke that winless slide with a 41-6 thumping of Chavez and won its final two games to finish the season 3-7.

That momentum carried into this season with wins over Beyer, Kimball and West, the latter two being teams the Bulldogs lost to a year ago.

Senior quarterback Luke Hannah threw for 215 yards against West last week, but these Bulldogs do most of their work on the ground, and Bruce Russell is the primary weapon. He has 81 carries for 543 yards and a team-high five touchdowns.

Chavez returned third-year starting quarterback Marcus Sanders but got off to a rough start, going 0-3 with losses to Stagg (38-0), Turlock-Pitman (54-15) and American Canyon (41-12).

But they enter tonight's league opener against Lodi at the Grape Bowl following back-to-back wins over Sacramento-Kennedy (61-0) and Edison (50-18).

"We had to adapt more to our personnel," coach John Ward said. "We have some guys who can thump and we wanted to take advantage of that ... so we made some adjustments and we're running the ball a lot more."

It's been running back by committee the past two games, and the approach has worked. Senior LeeAndre Fisher (101 yards) and senior Priest Jennings (114) led the way against Edison two weeks ago. Michael Milbourne had 135 against Kennedy, and Jonathan Fields combined for 102 against Kennedy and Edison.

The Bruins, under second-year head coach Reggie Camp, are much like last year's unit: They're competitive where previous teams lost a lot of one-sided games, but they haven't turned those improved performances into wins.

Their lone victory was against 1-5 Modesto-Gregori, a second-year program, but they were competitive against 4-1 McNair in Week 2, losing 25-15.

For weeks the Flames have been considered a dangerous underachiever that's much better than their record, but they've continued to lose. They ended the nonleague season with a loss to Calaveras last week.

Ward, the Chavez coach, called tonight's tilt a classic "trap game," so it's unlikely the Titans will look past the Flames the way they overlooked Tracy a year ago.

It's also worth pointing out that since the SJAA became a six-team league when the Tri-City Athletic League was formed following the 2004 season, Lodi has never lost a league opener.

The Yellowjackets continue their struggles under their third head coach in six seasons, but they've shown they can be explosive on offense, particularly with the passing game.

Junior quarterback Anthony Shuemake has thrown for 962 yards and six touchdowns, but he's also been intercepted seven times.

Senior receiver David Martinez has 22 receptions for 542 yards and two scores.